


Atropos' Hand

by thebrizo



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: 1950s, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Angst, Boarding School, Canon Compliant, Carpe Diem, Character Death, Drinking, Falling In Love, Fluff, Flying Deskset, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Poetry, Secret Relationship, Shakespearean Tragedy, Suicide, Theatre, Underage Drinking, drunk poetry, ill try to update as often as possible, todd has a secret smoking habit oops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:35:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28931103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebrizo/pseuds/thebrizo
Summary: A canon-compliant retelling of Dead Poets Society with many additional scenes that, in my opinion, could very well have happened. Several scenes have dialogue from the movie, and some scenes are expanded upon. I haven’t watched the movie in a while, and I don’t currently have access to it, so any scenes/dialogue from the movie that I use may be described differently. I’m basing those scenes on the original screenplay. And I’ll do my best to keep all the events in order! There will be lots of fluff, and a fair bit of angst. Also, sorry, but this will be canon compliant. :)
Relationships: Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Atropos' Hand

Neil bids farewell to his parents as they get in their small grey car. His father starts the ignition and begins to drive away from the school without so much as a second look. His mother waves at him from the passenger seat. Neil watches as the vehicle makes its way down the driveway and onto the main street. He continues to watch the car until it is out of sight. 

Neil turns from the road and begins to walk across the grass towards the school building. He weaves his way through the groups of young boys greeting one another, and the families saying goodbye. As Neil approaches the school, he sees a boy he was introduced to earlier. Neil watches the boy hug his mother and he watches as the boy’s father pats him on the back. The boy’s parents turn and walk towards the row of parked cars along the side of the street. Neil watches as the boy looks up at the sky and around at his surroundings. He stands where his parents left him, next to the school’s main entrance. Neil walks up to the boy. 

“Hey!” The boy turns his head towards Neil, searching for the source of the voice. “I hear we’re gonna be roommates.”

Neil shakes the boy’s hand. 

“I’m Neil Perry.” He tries to catch the boy’s eye.

“Todd Anderson.” 

“Why'd you leave Balincrest?”

“My brother went here.”

Neil recognized the boy now. He looked just like his older brother, but with a rounder, softer face. “Oh, so you're that Anderson.”

Todd gave a small smile, “Yeah, that’s me.”

Neil smiled. Todd seemed nice, and Neil thought he would make a great roommate. He picked up one of Todd’s two suitcases and led Todd up the steps and in through the grand front doors of Welton Academy. 

・・・

“Goodnight boys,” Neil says as they all turn into their respective dorm rooms. 

“Shhhhh, someone could hear you,” Cameron whispers. For that he gets a quick flick on the ear. “Hey! That hurts!”

“It’s barely nine-thirty Cameron, and studying isn’t illegal,” Charlie answers as he shuts the door to their shared room. 

The bickering fades out as Neil closes their door with a soft click. Neil stands at the door and watches Todd take his books and notebook out of his backpack and put them on his desk. 

“Just in case you were wondering,” he begins, as he too puts away his schoolwork, “they never stop. Charlie and Cameron are completely terrible to each other at times.”

“It certainly seems so.” Todd agrees.

“So, how do you like Hell-ton so far?” Neil asks and turns to look at Todd. He waits for an answer. The boy shrugs. 

“I dunno,” Todd says, keeping his eyes down.

“Well c’mon, Anderson, what do you think of this fine academic institute, birthplace of the future’s leaders? Nobody’s listening but me, and I won’t tell anyone that you hate it.”

“I don’t hate it,” Todd protests, finally looking up at Neil, but still not quite meeting his eye, “I just haven’t been here long enough to know.”

“Fair enough,” Neil concedes as he starts changing into his pyjamas. 

The silence stretches on as Neil and Todd get themselves ready for bed. Todd lies down on top of his bedding and pulls out a small brown novel. Neil can’t see what it says on the cover. He sits on the edge of his bed and watches the boy on the bed across from his, engrossed in whatever great tale he’s reading about. 

This is the first time Neil gets a good look at Todd. He’s just about the same height as Neil, with light brown hair and deep hazel eyes. Kind eyes. Todd is sitting up against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles. His eyes move from left to right, from the top of the page to the bottom. 

Todd reaches up with his left hand to tuck a loose hair behind his ear and catches sight of Neil perched on the edge of the bed, eyes locked on his face. 

“What is it?” He asks.

“Nothing,” Neil replies, breaking his gaze. “I’m gonna get started on the biology text.”

“Mhmm.” Todd responds, attention already returned to his book.

Neil stands up and moves to sit at his desk. He pulls a copy of Hamlet out of his bookbag and begins to read.

・・・

Todd exits Hager’s math class with Neil following close behind. He runs a few steps to catch up and asks the same question as the night before. 

“So, Anderson, you’ve had chemistry, latin, and math so far. Is that enough classes for you to form an opinion on Wellton?”

Todd glances over his shoulder at Neil. “I suppose.”

“You suppose what?” Neil asks as they make their way to the English classroom on the other side of the building.

“I suppose that it’s a fine school,” Todd pauses for a moment to shove his way through a large bunch of students, “I don’t mind the teachers, but the food could be better.”

“Of course the food could be better, the chicken pot pie alone is a disgrace to all chickens of the Earth!”

“And I like the people,” Todd continues, “and the grounds are beautiful.” They walk through an empty courtyard on the way to class.

“People? What people?” Neil asks, feigning confusion, “Do you mean me, Anderson? You like me?”

“Yeah, you’re alright, I guess,” Todd says, smirking, and reddening slightly in the face, “and don’t call me that. Call me Todd.”

“Okay, Todd,” Neil says. He arrives at the door to Keating’s classroom and opens the door. “What do you think this one’ll be like?”

“I don’t know,” Todd answers as he sits down.

At that moment, Mr. Keating comes out of his office and strides past all the desks and walks out the door on the far side of the room. Neil exchanges a confused glance with Charlie. What is Keating doing? After a few more seconds of hushed conversations, Mr. Keating pokes his head in the doorway.

“Well come on,” he states as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

Neil stands up, and with the rest of his classmates, follows Mr. Keating out of the classroom, and down the hall to the trophy cabinets. Their teacher stands next to the cabinets and waits for every one of the eighteen boys to arrive. Neil stands near the back of the group of students with Todd on his left. 

He realizes that in all the years he’s been attending Wellton, he hasn’t taken a good look at the case of mementos on display. The entire wall of shelves is encased in glass and stands to the right of the main entryway to the school. There are pictures of headboys, teachers, and all sorts of sports teams. Neil sees the photo of last year’s graduating class at the very front of a shelf and knows that Todd’s brother is in that picture. Sure enough, when Neil glances to his left, he sees Todd looking just where he had been a second ago. There is a faraway look in his eyes; he doesn’t seem to be fully present in this moment. Neil turns his attention back to Mr. Keating, who had just begun to speak.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
